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...::: WILT ANDRETTI :::...
PREVALENT FEATURE: Tall, strong, fast, want to go faster. ALSO: Wants steep seat angle; places in age-group; intends to race long course; speed is important, but also comfort; not as comfortable now as wants to be; will spend between $3000 - $4500.
I've a soft spot in my heart for those who fit this profile, being 6'2", which isn't tall by basketball standards but it is when you go bike shopping. What hurdles do you face?
On the one hand, the world is sort of your oyster, in that you don't face the severe fit problems encumbering shorter-statured riders. On the other, you're at the far end of the size spectrum, and some bike makers may not treat or understand your concerns with the same attention paid those who'll buy their average-sized models.
In particular, they may engage in that maddening habit of shallowing their seat angles as the bike sizes successively increase. This makes it hard for the taller guys, as we don't have the same amount of seat angle adjustability available to us through simply moving the saddle fore and aft on the rails. The taller you are, the less of an angle change you get through sliding the saddle.
So, if you ride steep, you've got to consider carefully which bikes will work for you. You want the bike to be built steep, that is, you don't simply want it so the saddle can go steep, you want the bike's wheelbase, and its front center, and virtual top tube length, and its head tube height, to be built with a steep riding posture in mind. Which bikes allow a taller guy to ride steep, and ride it in style?
We're going to limit the search to the mid-priced tri bike which, at $3000 to $4500, is pretty spendy for a mid-priced anything. But these days the entry level tri bike is inching up to $2000, and it's quite easy to spend $6000 and up. Good values can be had in this circa-$3750 range, and we'll stay within $750 of that.
Maybe Im just an iconoclast, but I tend to like the bikes nobody else does. So, when the world was gaga for Kestrels 15 years ago I shied away. Of course, they were my chief competitor at that time. For some reason, which I frankly do not understand, the bloom is off the Kestrel rose. You'd think that in a world where the carbon monocoque is king, there'd be a bit more love for the company that started it all. I like the Airfoil Pro (above left). If you're a pentagenarian like I am there's a je ne sais quoi to this gentleman's machine. Can you ascribe savoir faire to a bike? Which brings up another point: why am I waxing idiomatique in a language I barely understand?
Kestrel's problem is that it does suffer from that mauvaise habitude of progressively slackening seat angles. Not to worry, if you're no taller than my 6'2" height. You can move the saddle forward and the KM40s 57.5cm top tube is long enough to handle some artificial shortening a Thomson dogleg set-forward post gives you (this bike takes a round post). Just know that if you're long in the torso, you'll need a longer top tube, and if you ride the KM40's 76-degree seat angle at 79 or 80 degrees you won't have enough top tube. The Km40 Airfoil sells for $4000 in its Ultegra build.
Cervelo does a very nice job in its taller sizes, and its seat angles stay at approximately 78 degrees throughout its size run. Its P2C (right) is almost certainly the best value in tri bikes today, at $3000, and the P3C is at the top end of our price range.
Realize that these two Cervelos diverge in their geometries a bit, and the divergence is greater as the bike size increases. Look at photos of Dave Zabriskie riding his P3C and how much drop he has between his saddle and his handlebars. Then look at his stem configuration and realize he's not riding anything special or strange to get him that low. Then ask yourself how much higher than that your handlebars will likely be. If not too much, the P3C is your bike. If the bars will be a lot higher than Zabriskie's, then the P2C is more your cup of tea.
You might find yourself a tweener, in that the P2C with its taller head tube and higher profile aerobars, place you too skyward, while the P3C and its low profile Visiontechs and short head tubes place you too low. In this case, you've got to put Profile Designs on your P3C, or Visions on your P2C, to give you a place in the middle (in this case you place the Profiles on the P3C and the Visions on the P2C).
Trek's Equinox TTX is quite stiff as frames go, perhaps stiffer than it needs to be in the smaller sizes, but the taller you are the nicer it is to have a stiff frame. This makes the TTX in its largest sizes a wise choice. Here's the thing, though. These Trek's have an advertised seat angle that's unobtanium. It says its 76 degrees but it's really either 74.5 or 77.5 degrees, depending on how you flit the seat post. So, that 57.2cm of top tube in the large sized bike is really more like 55cm or 55.5cm in the steep configuration, which is pretty tight. You'd best be leggy to ride this bike steep.
The XL has a top tube of 61cm which, even if you ride the saddle with the palindromic seat post flipped forward, is still at least 58cm. So, this is a bike for a pretty big guy. Also, the head tube is a massive 18.5cm tall. If you're 6'3" to 6'5", and you've been tri bike shopping, you know that it's hard to find a full blown tri bike in your size. Perhaps a 61cm Cervelo works, in particular in the P2C and P2SL geometries. Add this Trek 9.5 to the mix which, list at $4300 but often with a street price closer to $4000, is a realistic option.
Felt's $3400 complete B2 in 60cm is nicely conceived, with plenty of front/center (65.7cm) to make for a nice weight displacement. Giant's Trinity A0 (above left) is a lot of bike for $3000, just know that the largest Trinity Alliance Giant makes is about equal in size to Cervelo's 58cm, and Kestrel's, QR's, and Felt's 59cm. So, if you're taller than 6'2" pass this one by.
Scott's Plasma (right) rides larger than the given size, that is, a pretty big guy might ride a 56cm, a really big guy would ride a 58cm. Those correspond to the L and XL respectively, and they correspond to Cervelo's 58cm and 61cm respectively. Because of the way the seat mast hardware works you can make this bike ride considerably steeper than its stated 76-degree seat angle. Just know that if you ride it steep, it's going to be a tad shortish, so best if you're leggy. Oh, and you'll almost certainly have to swap out the bars for a low-profile Vision or Hed or something, because of the Plasma's taller head tubes. The Plasma Pro (road tested by us) with a street price of below $4000 will fit nicely in your budget and is the best value in Scott's Plasma series.
WHICH DEALERS CARRY THESE BIKES: This topic is covered in our Dealer Survey.
